Syrian Face-to-Face Negotiations to Fail Before They Begin

Syrian state television today (Friday) reported that the government delegation at the Geneva peace negotiations will depart Saturday if "serious talks" do not begin, according to a report by AP.

State TV said Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem gave an ultimatum to the U.N. mediator regarding the talks that have struggled to get off the ground, hours after the U.N. said the Western-backed opposition and government delegation would not meet face-to-face as originally hoped. Al-Moallem and his delegation met Friday with mediator Lakhdar Brahimi.

Syrian TV said al-Moallem told Brahimi that if "serious talks don't begin Saturday, the official Syrian delegation will have to leave because the other party is neither serious nor ready."